PROGRAM Expert Workshop 7 - 9 September 2020 THE WESTERN BALKANS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION – GROWING TOGETHER OR MOVING APART? Challenges, Opportunities, and Perspectives MONDAY, 7 September - WEDNESDAY, 9 September 2020 Protestant Academy Loccum The future development of the Western Balkans including the region’s integration into the EU continues to be . The COVID-19 pandemic as well as growing opposition to further EU enlargement has recently complicated the situation. 20 years after the Zagreb summit in November 2000 which opened the perspective of European integration and after profound crises in the region, the future of the Western Balkans seems less certain than during the 2000s. Revanchism, ethno-nationalism, and authoritarian developments risk being the key feature of the 2020s. Brain drain and information disorder weaken perspectives of future prosperity. While taking into account the various challenges within and among the countries of the region as well as with and inside the European Union, this expert conference pursues a forward-looking approach and aims to develop innovative ideas which might help to stop that the Western Balkans and the EU are growing further apart. Together with practitioners and experts coming from the countries of the region and across the EU, we will address three intertwined challenges – namely authoritarian rule, ongoing ethno-political cleavages, and the search for a new European approach for the region. Jointly we will try to identify opportunities and approaches for possible new solutions. The conference committee : Thomas Müller-Färber , International and Security Affairs, Protestant Academy Loccum Tobias Flessenkemper , Member of the Board of the Southeast Europe Association (Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft – SOG), Munich & Head of the Council of Europe office in Belgrade Inquiries about participation to: Miriam Kamber, Project Manager T: + 49 (0) 57 66 81 113 • E: [email protected] THIS CONFERENCE IS FUNDED BY: 1 PROGRAM Expert Workshop 7 - 9 September 2020 DAY 1 MONDAY 7 SEPTEMBER 2020 13:30 REGISTRATION 14:45 WORDS OF WELCOME Thomas Müller-Färber , International and Security Affairs, Protestant Academy Loccum Tobias Flessenkemper , Board Member of the Southeast Europe Association (Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft – SOG), Munich & Head of the Council of Europe office in Belgrade 15:00 KEY-NOTE LECTURE │ The Western Balkans in the European Union: A difficult relationship public wider the by participation Online Between “enlargement fatigue” and “accession refusal”, the Western Balkans cannot be detached from the European Union as a region, yet today the perspectives of “togetherness” seem more elusive than 2003 when the EU promised their full integration. This key-note lecture will introduce the range of issues, opportunities, and challenges of a difficult relationship and provide an overview of current and historic developments that shape the Western Balkans predicament. How will this region, surrounded by EU Member States, find its place in the political, cultural, social, economic and institutional construction of Europe? Florian Bieber , Professor of Southeast European History and Politics and Director of the Centre for Southeast European Studies at the University of Graz & Board Member of the Southeast Europe Association (Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft – SOG), Vienna (online participation ) 16:00 COFFEE & CAKE 16:30 OPENING ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION │ The Western Balkans in the European Union: What next? This open round-table discussion will allow for a panoramic overview on the ideas, initiatives, and concerns regarding the immediate future of the region and Europe as a whole. The purpose is to identify possible pathways for new, alternative or forgotten approaches to overcome the current political and diplomatic gridlocks, to reduce elements of state capture, from which the region is suffering, and to develop positive visions for European “togetherness” against the backdrop of a continental surge of revanchism, glorification of public wider the by participation Online war criminals and abusive use of history. In that sense, this discussion shall nurture the work of the second day of the conference and allows to test ways out of ossified structures of thinking about Europe and the Balkans. OPENING IMPULSES BY: Clive Rumbold , Senior Expert, Western Balkans Division, European External Action Service, Brussels ( online participation ) Simonida Kacarska , Director, European Policy Institute, Skopje (online participation ) Josip Juratovi ć, Member of the German Parliament (SPD), Spokesperson of the Subcommittee on Crisis Prevention and Conflict Resolution and Member of the Foreign Affairs Committe, Vice-President of the Southeast Europe Association (Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft –SOG)Berlin/Heilbronn Jasmin Mujanovi č, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Policy Studies at Elon University and author of the book “Hunger and Fury: The Crisis of Democracy in the Balkans”, Elon (online participation ) Moderator: Christian Hagemann , Deputy Director, Southeast Europe Association (Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft – SOG), Munich 17:30 Coffee & Tea Break 17:45 Continued plenary discussion 18:30 End of discussion 2 PROGRAM Expert Workshop 7 - 9 September 2020 19:15 DINNER 20:15 EVENING WITH THE MEDIA │ What Keeps You Up at Night When You Think About the Western Balkans? Distinguished journalists share their views and perspectives and analyses of South Eastern Europe and the Western BalkansWhat keeps them up at night when they think about the region? What is it that most people miss to understand about the Balkans? What puzzles them most in South Eastern Europe? What are the crucial questions for the cooperation with the European Union ? What can Western Europe learn from the Western Balkans? Adelheid Wölfl , South Eastern Europe Correspondent, Der Standard, Sarajevo Norbert Mappes-Niediek , Journalist and Author focusing on South Eastern Europe, Graz Jovo Martinovi ć, Investigative Journalist, Podgorica (online participation ) Sre ćko Mati ć, Journalist, Deutsche Welle, Bonn Moderator: Tobias Flessenkemper 21:30 COME-TOGETHER DAY 2 TUESDAY 8 SEPTEMBER 2020 08:45 BREAKFAST IDEA WORKSHOP The purpose of this round of workshops is to identify innovative ideas to address three intertwined challenges that the Western Balkans are facing – authoritarian rule, ongoing ethno-political cleavages, and the search for a new European approach for the region. The workshop will follow a “Rotation Walk” method. The goal is that we arrive in the end at a set of presentable recommendations and appealing questions that need to be addressed in the future. Working Group I – Europe: On A Search for A New EU Approach Western Balkans The European approach towards Western Balkan is in crisis. Emmanuel Macron’s veto to the starting of accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia brought the EU’s strategy to transform the region to a sharp end and raised the question how the Union and its Member States wish to go on in the future. What were the strengthes and the flaws of the old EU-approach? How would a new strategy of the EU and its Member states towards the region look like? Will it be as powerful as the accession tool? Working Group II – “Togetherness”: Diaolgue and Reconciliation Despite numerous attempts to reconcile, many intra- and inter-societal conflicts from the 1990s remain virulent in the Western Balkans. They slow down economic progress, burden the political sphere, and were often named as one of the major obstacles to the European integration of the region. Considerable efforts were undertaken in the past in this fields with projects and intiatives reaching from transitational justice, cultural exchanges, youth contacts, dealing with the past projects, and bilateral disputs reconcilation. What impact did these efforts have and what should be done in the future to overcome ethno-political cleavages? Working Group III – Democracy: Strengthening Democratic Change The recent EU strategy for the Western Balkans issued in Spring 2018 makes clear that the countries of the region “show clear elements of state capture, including links with organized crime and corruption at all levels of government and administration, as well as a strong entanglement of public and private interests“. Authoritarian control of the states and societies in the region are widespread in the region and they have become more severe in recent years – apart from some positive development such as in Northern Mazedonia. What can be done to promote sustainable democratic change? 3 PROGRAM Expert Workshop 7 - 9 September 2020 09:45 PROCEDURAL INTRODUCTION │ What Will Happen During the Idea-Workshop 10:00 WORKING GROUP PHASE Group I – Europe Group II – “Togetherness” Group III – Democracy (Room A) (Room L) (Room E) Input Speaker: Adnan Ćerimagi ć, Input Speaker: Mario Maži ć, Youth Input Speaker: Max Brändle, Head, European Stability Initiative (ESI), Initiative for Human Rights(YIHR) Friedrich Ebert Foundation’s office Berlin (online participation ) and Board Member of the in Serbia, Begrade Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo, Facilitator: Miranda Jakiša , Zagreb (online participation ) Facilitator: Christian Hagemann , Professor at the Department of Deputy Director, Southeast Europe Facilitator: Adelheid Wölfl , South Association (Südosteuropa- Slavonic Studies, University of Eastern Europe Correspondent, Der Vienna (online participation ) Standard, Sarajevo Gesellschaft – SOG), Munich ( Valeska Esch , Deputy Executive Christian Castagna , Director, Đuro